Computer-aided transcription system using pronounceable substitute text with a common cross-reference library

ABSTRACT

A transcription network having linked computer terminals for a court reporter and for examining, defending, and associate attorneys is disclosed. Cross-reference libraries, phoneme libraries, phoneme dictionaries, and pronunciation indices are used by a reporter terminal to generate readable text transcripts which are communicated to the other terminals for real-time review. Cross-reference libraries provide for the bulk of the transcription while stenographic keystrokes that cannot be directly transcribed are converted to phoneme text or other pronounceable form for down-line readability. A common cross-reference library is provided to supplement local cross-reference libraries to aid transcription and to provide for standardization. The reporter terminal provides for update and preparation of the local cross-reference libraries using case law and evidence prior to a proceeding, as well as provides key-stroke training for the court reporter. Foreign language tables are also provided to service proceedings involving two or more languages.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS (Claiming Benefit Under 35U.S.C. 120)

This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S.application Ser. No. 08/036,488, filed Mar. 24, 1993, by Bennett et al.now U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,704 (Attorney Docket No. P93-00).

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The descriptive matter of the above-referred to U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,704,filed Mar. 24, 1993, by Bennett et al. (Attorney Docket No. P93-00) isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and is made part ofthis application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a computer-aided transcription system used bycourt reporters which provides readable testimony to attorneys, judges,court reporters, witnesses and clients in real-time.

As is well known, legal proceedings such as a deposition or trialinvolve the participation of, among others, an examining attorney whoasks questions and a witness who must answer ("testify") while underoath. These answers ("testimony") are recorded by a court reporter,along with the associated questions and related conversation, using astenographic recorder. A stenographic recorder is a machine whichprovides a set of keys which are stroked by the court reporter invarious combinations and sequences to represent spoken words.

Older versions of the stenographic recorder only record the courtreporter's key-strokes much the way a computer printer does, creating apaper tape containing the printed key-strokes as a record of the legalproceeding. After the legal proceeding ends, the court reporter readsthe paper tape and manually transcribes each printed key-stroke backinto the words that were spoken, creating a readable transcript of thetestimony. This manual transcription process takes a great deal of time.

Newer versions of the stenographic recorder produce electronic signalsrepresentative of each key-stroke recorded. The electronic signals drivecomputers that help automate the transcription process. These computersare referred to as Computer Aided Transcription ("CAT") systems whichtranslate stenographic key-strokes into text using a court reporter'spersonalized cross-reference library. These CAT systems onlyautomatically transcribe those key-strokes that have textualcounterparts in that court reporter's cross-reference library.Keystrokes having no counterparts must be manually transcribed by thecourt reporter. The ratio between the number of words automaticallytranscribed and those requiring manual transcription is referred toherein as the "percentage of automated transcription".

Using the newer versions of recorders and CAT systems, only seasoned,consistent court reporters having well-developed cross-referencelibraries can achieve a relatively high percentage of automatedtranscription, while beginners and inconsistent reporters tend toproduce relatively low percentages. Low percentages result in costlyinefficiency resulting from the longer period of manual transcriptionrequired. Additionally, if real-time down-line transcription is desired,a high percentage of automated transcription becomes critical. In adown-line transcription environment, both counterpart text fortranscribed key-strokes and all untranscribed key-strokes aresequentially transmitted down-line to the various attorneys, clients,judges and witnesses for their real-time review. However, in most cases,only court reporters can read untranscribed key-strokes. The down-linereviewers generally cannot comprehend them. As a result, the lower thepercentage of automated transcription, the less likely a court reporterwill ever be rehired by the down-line attorneys.

The percentage of automated transcription depends on several factors.For example, if a court reporter fails to consistently depress the samestenographic recorder keys for the same word or word sequence, thepercentage of automated transcription tends to drop. Currently, toovercome this problem, the court reporter must increase their skillthrough practice. Beginner court reporters face a more substantialproblem. Not only must they learn to consistently stroke thestenographic keys, but they must also enhance and refine their"beginner" cross-reference library so that the desired high percentageof automated transcription can be reached. The enhancement and refiningprocess takes a great deal of time with the end result being apersonalized cross-reference library that no other reporter can use.

Additionally, even the most seasoned court reporters cannot anticipateall of the unique or new words and names that will be encountered in anupcoming deposition. As a result, current CAT systems fail to transcribesuch words and names. To increase the percentage of automatedtranscription, court reporters often ask the attorneys for a list ofpotential unique words and names well before the testimony is recordedso that appropriate refinement of their cross-reference library might bemade. However, attorneys cannot remember or anticipate all such words,and, more often than not, forget to provide the requested list.Furthermore, because of the anticipation problem and nature of suchwords, one hundred percent automated transcription cannot be guaranteed.Thus, incomprehensible, untranscribed key-strokes always reach thedown-line reviewers.

Because of personalization, each court reporter must regularly back-upand carry copies of their cross-reference library (usually on disk) incase their library is accidentally lost or damaged. Failure to do so mayresult in the court reporter not being able to conduct the deposition,and, possibly more devastating, the court reporter may have to startfrom scratch as would a beginner to develop another cross-referencelibrary. Also resulting from personalization, a court reporter's librarycannot be used to transcribe the key-strokes of another reporter. Doingso not only yields a low percentage of automated transcription, butmight also result in virtually undetectable, wrong transcription.

To handle depositions or trials involving two or more languages,translators are required. However, using translators creates onesignificant problem--the validity of the translation. Translators, likeany other human, often unknowingly misunderstand what is being said.Even more often, a translator will get sloppy and tend to summarize whatthey hear. In either case, the transcript becomes flawed. With anincreased number of international legal matters, the use of translatorswith their inherent translation errors continues to grow.

Currently, there are over thirty thousand court reporters and hundredsof thousands of attorneys and judges in the United States alone. Hence,it would be highly desirable to solve the foregoing variety of problemsenumerated above facing court reporters and down-line attorneys, judgesand witnesses in conducting legal proceedings such as a deposition ortrial.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus which will aid court reporters in transcription oftestimony generated in real-time by an automatic transcription system.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus which will aid court reporters in eliminating the need forpersonalized transcription libraries for use in transcription oftestimony generated in real-time by an automatic transcription system.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus which will aid beginning and inconsistent court reporters inthe transcription of testimony generated in real-time by an automatictranscription system.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus which will aid court reporters in the transcription oftestimony generated in real-time by an automatic transcription systemthrough use of a fully functional, standard cross reference library.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus which will aid court reporters in developing and maintaining acommon cross reference library for use in the transcription of testimonygenerated by a CAT system.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a methodand apparatus which will aid court reporters in training themselves touse a standard cross reference library substantially common to all courtreporters.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus which will aid court reporters in training themselves to use acommon cross reference library.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus which will act as a backup to the cross-reference library inproviding automated transcription for testimony generated by anautomatic transcription system.

It is another object of the present invention to provide down-linereviewers with comprehensible text representing untranscribedkey-strokes representing words or names having no textual counterpart inthe cross-reference library.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in areporting system having a transcriber which operates on codedrepresentations of spoken words and having cross-reference and phonemelibraries. The reporting system comprises a means which uses across-reference library for identifying associations between codedrepresentations of spoken words and actual alphabetic and numeric text.A phoneme means provides for associating spoken words with pronounceabletext using a phoneme library, and operates on spoken words for which thecross-reference means cannot identify associations.

The reporting system accomplishes other objects by additionallyproviding a pronunciation index means which operates on representationsof spoken words for which the phoneme and cross-reference means cannotidentify associations. A phoneme library is also provided which isresponsive to the phoneme means by identifying associations between coderepresentations of spoken words and corresponding alphabetical andnumeric text. Additionally, foreign language tables are provided by thereporting system to provide for foreign language translation.

Objects are also achieved in a transcription system which operates oncoded representations of spoken words. This system comprises a localcross-reference library which is stored in a local database and a commoncross-reference library which is stored in a remote database. A means isprovided for updating the common and local cross-reference libraries.Additionally, means might also be provided for court reporter trainingand interactive updating of the cross-reference libraries.

Objects are also achieved in an alternate transcription system whichcomprises a cross-reference library and a case database which containswords relating to a specific lawsuit at issue. A means is provided forautomatically comparing the cross-reference library with the casedatabase, and for updating the cross-reference library.

Other objects and further aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent in view of the following detailed description and claims withreference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view the transcription system of the presentinvention illustrating the interaction of a CAT system configured toproved real-time, down-line transcription.

FIG. 2 is a diagram representing the association of data fields inrecords used as the fundamental building blocks in the data structure ofthe cross-reference library according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram representing the overall data structureused by the CAT system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram representing the phoneme library used in the presentinvention wherein substitutions of readable phoneme text can be foundfor untranscribed key-strokes to aid down-line viewing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram representing the production key index used in thepresent invention wherein substitutions of a series ofpronunciation-strings can be found when phoneme text is unavailable.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the phoneme record used as a basic buildingblock in the overall data structure of the phoneme library which is usedto locate exact text substitution for identified phoneme text accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a down-line terminal of the presentinvention which illustrates the use of phoneme text replacement ofuntranscribed key-strokes.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a foreign language table which is usedto cross-reference text of a first language that corresponds totranslated words of a first language.

FIG. 9 is a detailed perspective view of the CAT system of the presentinvention which utilizes case evidence text, case law words and courtreporter training sessions to prepare for an upcoming trial ordeposition.

FIG. 10 is a detailed perspective view of the CAT systems of the presentinvention which utilizes a common cross-reference library to help tocreate a standard cross reference library used by each court reporterwhich will result in higher transcription percentages.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 provides an overview of the interaction of a CAT system 13according to the present invention for providing real-time, down-linetranscription. In one embodiment of the present invention, at a trial ordeposition a stenographic recorder 11 records digital codes representingthe key-stroke entered by a court reporter via a keyboard 31. Therecorded key-strokes are intended to correspond to the words spoken at adeposition or trial. The stenographic recorder 11 communicates thesekey-strokes codes to a CAT system 13 via a link 9. Upon receipt, the CATsystem 13 attempts to transcribe the key-stroke codes into the exacttext of the words which were spoken to provide for a real-time textualdisplay of the transcript.

To accomplish transcription, the CAT system 13 primarily uses across-reference library 15 to locate the exact text counterpart of thespoken words. However, whenever the cross-reference library 15 fails toprovide an exact text counterpart, the CAT system 13 resorts to using aphoneme library 17 to provide readable substitute text (referred tohereinafter as "phoneme text") as the next best option to the exact textreplacement. Although this phoneme text does not provide exacttranscription, it does provide pronounceable text which can be easilyunderstood by the reader.

The CAT system 13 transmits both the exact and, where necessary, phonemetext down-line to attorney terminals 19 and 21 via a communication link24 for real time review. Further detail regarding the down-lineterminals such as terminals 19 and 21 can be found in the pending parentU.S. application Ser. No. 08/036,488, filed Mar. 24, 1993, by Bennett etal. which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 1 also illustrates the use of a phoneme dictionary 23 which is usedin an alternate embodiment of the present invention. When exact textcannot be located in the cross-reference library 15, the CAT system 13first identifies the phoneme text in the phoneme library 17 as describedabove. However, instead of immediately sending the identified phonemetext down-line for viewing, the CAT system 13 makes a second attempt ataccessing the exact transcription text via the phoneme dictionary 23.The phoneme dictionary 23 has the same structure and searching strategyas the cross-reference library 15. The only difference being instead ofindexing using a series of key-stroke codes, the phoneme dictionaryindexes using the phoneme strings. Only after a failed second attempt oflocating an exact replacement will the CAT system 13 communicate thephoneme text down-line.

If when forced to resort to the phoneme library 17, no phoneme textcounterpart to a key-stroke can be found, the CAT system 13 accesses apronunciation index 25 which will substitute a dictionary-likepronunciation for the key-stroke codes prior to communication down-line.This provides a readable pronunciation to the viewer which is secondonly to the phoneme text.

Additionally, where the transcription involves participants of more thanone language, the CAT system 13 utilizes foreign language tables 27 toprovide readable real-time transcription for all of the down-lineparticipants such as those located at the terminals 19 and 21.

More specifically, in response to the court reporter stroking a keyboard31, the recorder 11 creates a key-stroke code and transmits this to theCAT system 13 (the reporter's terminal) along the communication link 9.The CAT system 13 displays the key-stroke codes received in twodifferent formats on a screen 100 of the CAT system 13. The CAT system13 provides a tape window 101 which is shaped and sized much like apaper tape, such as a paper tape 35 of the recorder 11. The tape window101 displays alphabetic representations for received key-stroke codes ina line by line fashion wherein each key-stroke code is represented on asingle line. The tape window 101 thus provides an electronic version ofa paper tape which is generally in the format familiar to courtreporters.

The screen 100 also includes a transcription window 103 which displaysthe alphabetic and numeric text representative of the spoken words,i.e., displays the transcribed version of key-stroke codes received fromthe recorder 11. Through user selection, the windows 101 and 103 can beconfigured to update the screen 100 upon complete transcription ofeach: 1) word; 2) sentence; 3) Q & A; or 4) Q or A. The display can alsobe chosen to operate in either scrolling or paging fashion. For example,with a preferred display selection, the transcription window 103 willonly display the current Q & A as it is developed on a sentence bysentence basis. After completing the transcription of the first sentenceof a new question, the CAT system 13 clears the currently displayed Q &A (the old Q & A) from the window 103, and displays the transcribedalphabetic and numeric text of the first sentence of the new question.As each additional sentence of the new Q & A is received andtranscribed, it too is added to the window 103. After fully transcribingthe new Q & A, window 103 holds the display of that new Q & A until theend of the first sentence of the next Q & A; upon which, this cyclerepeats.

To set up the mode of updating the windows or to access any of a varietyof other CAT system commands, the screen 100 also includes a commandline 105. In one embodiment, the command line 105 lists several one-wordcommands displayed horizontally in a single line of text. The commandslisted by the command line 105 can be selected directly using a mouse,pen, fingertip or other input device (none of which are shown) orindirectly by simultaneous pressing the "alt" key and the first letterof the desired command on the keyboard 107. Any other mode or method ofcommand selection involving, for example, button bars, pull-downmenuing, or icons might also be used.

As previously stated, a court reporter strokes the stenographic recorder11 in response to the spoken word. Generally, a given word may demandeither a single stroke or multiple strokes based on the complexity ofits phonetic composition. Upon completing the strokes necessary for agiven word, the court reporter immediately begins stroking the nextword. No space bar or other word separator is stroked between words. Asa result, all of the strokes run together. However, the court reporterdoes stroke to indicate an end of a sentence. Therefore, the CAT system13 operates on key-strokes in sentence units (the basic unit oftranscription) so that the beginning and end of each word can be mosteasily located. In addition, some court reporters use key-strokes toindicate punctuation. When used, the CAT system 13 can decrease the sizeof the basic unit of transcription by grouping only those words betweenpunctuation. This may result in an easier identification of words andpossibly provides a higher percentage of transcription.

Providing the foundation of the transcription process, the CAT systemuses the cross-reference library 15 which lists the exact text of eachword that the court reporter has transcribed to date using that library.Each of these words are associated with the corresponding stenographickey-stroke or sequence of key-strokes that represents that word.Although the contents of the cross-reference library 15 can be displayedin a visual manner, it is stored in a binary tree structure forefficient searching.

Upon receiving the first key-stroke code of the sentence, the CAT system13 begins transcription. This first code is compared to all of thepossible first stroke codes within the court reporter's cross-referencelibrary. If a complete cross-referenced word is found, the CAT system 13preliminarily treats the first key-stroke code as a complete word. Uponreceiving the second key-stroke code in the sentence, the CAT system 13again treats this second key-stroke code as the beginning of anotherword and looks again to all of the possible first stroke codes withinthe library. If a complete cross-referenced word is identified, the CATsystem 13 similarly treats the second key-stroke code as a secondcomplete word, and the process repeats. If at any point across-referenced word cannot be found for a single key-stroke code,subsequent and previous codes are utilized to branch to words requiringmultiple key-strokes.

If no words can be identified from the single or multiple key-strokecodes, the CAT system 13 must back-track. Specifically, the CAT system13 must back-track to the previous key-stroke code which waspreliminarily classified as a complete transcribed word and treat it asif it is only a first part of a word. The CAT system 13 uses thesubsequent key-stroke codes thereto to potentially verify or disprovethis possibility by locating a multiple key-stroke word. If a multiplekey-stroke word cannot be located, the CAT system 13 marks the code asbeing incapable of exact transcription and continues the rest of thesentence. If a multiple key-stroke word is located, the CAT system 13continues this forward searching with backtracking strategy until themost complete transcription of the sentence unit can be found. Otherstrategies such as a backward searching approach are contemplated whichmight also be used.

FIG. 2 is a diagram representing the association of data fields in arecord which is used as a basis for the overall data structure of thecross-reference library 15 according to the present invention. Inparticular, the CAT system 13 utilizes a linked-list arrangement of twotypes of data records: a key-stroke code listing (KCL) record 151 and acorresponding text (CT) record 153. Although other types of records arecontemplated, these two types of records provide the preferred storagestructure for the court reporter's cross-referencing library.

Basically, the CAT system 13 uses records 151 and 153 to associate eachindividual key-stroke code with as many subsequent key-stroke codes asproves necessary to reconstruct the spoken word. Particularly, the KCLrecord 151 associates: 1) a listed key-stroke code (LKC) field 155 forstoring a specific key-stroke code; 2) a reporter listing counter field156 for storing a value indicative of the number of times that the CATsystem 13 uses the record; 3) a current listing counter field 157 forstoring a value indicative of the number of times that the CAT system 13uses the record in the current case; 4) a common listing counter 158 forstoring a value indicative of the number of times that any CAT system,including the CAT system 13, used the record; 5) a first KCL₋₋ recordpointer field 159 for storing a pointer to the next KCL record on thislevel; 6) a CT record pointer field 161 for storing a pointer to anassociated CT record; and 7) a second KCL₋₋ record pointer field 163 forstoring a pointer to a corresponding KCL₋₋ record at the next listinglevel down.

Similarly, the CT record 153 associates: 1) a CT string field 165 forstoring a string of text; 2) a reporter listing counter field 166 forstoring a value indicative of the number of times that the CAT system 13uses the current string; 3) a current listing counter field 167 forstoring a value indicative of the number of times that the CAT system 13uses the string in the current case; 4) a common listing counter 168 forstoring a value indicative of the number of times that any CAT system,including the CAT system 13, used the current string; 5) a CT recordhomonym pointer field 169 for storing a pointer to another CT recordcontaining a homonym to the contents of the CT string field 165; and 6)a grammatical word type field 170 for storing an indicator of thetype(s) of word(s) the contents of the CT string field 165 happens to be(i.e., noun, verb, adverb, noun and verb, etc.).

FIG. 3 provides a detailed illustration representing the overall datastructure of the cross-reference library used by the CAT system 13. KCLrecords 200, 201 and all KCL records (not shown) directly to the rightand left of records 200, 201 constitute a first listing level. Thisfirst listing level is a linked-list of each beginning key-stroke codeof the words held in the cross-reference library 15. The KCL records are"linked" using the first KCL record pointer field 159, i.e.,each pointerfield contains the address in memory where the next KCL record resides.

All words which can be represented by a single key-stroke can be locatedusing a single KCL record at this first level. Words requiring multiplekey-strokes must identify the first key-stroke of the word in one of theKCL records at the first listing level, and that identified KCL recordshould then point via field 163 to a second listing level. For examplethe KCL records 200 points to a second listing level comprised of KCLrecords 202, 203, etc. Similarly, a third listing level exists below theKCL record 203 beginning with a KCL record 204, and so on as necessaryto reach multiple key-stroke words.

To directly identify exact text replacement using the cross-referencelibrary, the CAT system 13 would first need to know the number ofkey-strokes required to represent every given word. Because this doesnot occur, the CAT system 13 must use a searching strategy to identifythese numbers.

Because most words can be represented by a single key-stroke, the CATsystem 13 initially treats all words as a single key-stroke word. Onlyafter detecting transcription problems with subsequent key-strokes willthe CAT system 13 back-track and consider whether the key-stroke mightbe the first of a multiple key-stroked word. In particular, using theidentified KCL records constituting a second listing level, the CATsystem 13 must locate a single KCL record containing the secondkey-stroke in the multiple key-stroke series. The identified KCL recordat this second level will point to a subsequent level for providing asubsequent key-stroke in the multiple key-stroke series. This processcontinues until the last key-stroke is identified.

In addition, each of the KCL records at any listing level may or may notpoint via the field 161 to associated text. If a single word correspondsto a single key-stroke, the identified KCL record in the first listinglevel will point to a CT record which contains the text of that word.Similarly, a KCL record in the first listing level will point to a CTrecord which contains the text of that word. Similarly, a KCL record atthe second level identified for a word represented by two key-strokeswill point to a CT record containing the actual text of that word. Inthis way, any key-stroke or series of key-strokes which represent a wordcan be transcribed if the cross-reference library contains the path tothe word formed by the key-stroke(s) of that word, i.e., if thecross-reference library contains the text counterpart.

More particularly, upon receiving the first key-stroke code from asentence, the code is compared with each key-stroke code stored in eachKCL record on the first listing level. For example, if the received codedoes not match the stored code in the listed key-stroke code field 155of the KCL record 200, the CAT system 13 uses the contents of the field159 of KCL record 200 to access the next KCL record, the record 201, fora similar comparison to the code stored therein. In this manner, bystepping through the first listing level, a matching KCL record can befound.

Assuming that the code stored in KCL record 200 does match the firstkey-stroke code received, the CAT system 13 accesses the associated CTrecord 205 if present to retrieve readable cross-referenced text.Additionally in this example, the CT record 205 provides the CAT system13 with a pointer to a homonym stored in a CT record 207. The textlocated in CT records 205 and 207 possibly provide the desiredtranscription, but only by transcribing the entire sentence can the CATsystem 13 be sure. Often times, the CAT system 13 discards such text infavor of multiple key-stroke text. Particularly, the CAT system 13 usesthe KCL record 200 as a back-tracking point. If in transcribing thesentence, the KCL record 200 only proves to be the first of twokey-strokes, the CAT system 13 uses the next level pointer 163 in theKCL record 200 to access a second listing level. This second listinglevel is specifically associated with the KCL record 200 and begins withKCL records 202 and 203 followed by all KCL type records (not shown) tothe right of record 203. Any second code received which follows a firstcode which matches that stored in the KCL record 200 is compared to thecodes stored in the KCL records on the second listing level. The KCLrecord 204 represents yet a third listing level under the key-strokesequence stored in the record 200 and 203. CT records may or may not beassociated with a given KCL record, depending on whether a correspondingword exists for the represented key-stroke code sequence. The KCL record204 having no CT record associations exemplifies such a situation.

Only a single CT record is generally associated with a single KCLrecord, such as is shown with KCL record 203 and a CT record 209. Onlywhen homonyms exist will there be multiple CT record association, asillustrated with the KCL record 200 and the CT records 205 and 207.Multiple CT record associations, however, are indirect in that each KCLrecord can only identify, i.e., point to, a single CT record. AdditionalCT record "homonyms" are pointed to by the identified CT record.

If homonyms are found, signifying multiple CT record association, twoselectable modes are provided to display the homonyms. In an expandedmode, all homonyms are displayed within parenthesis so that selection ofthe appropriate homonym can be made upon review of the grammaticalcontext. The ordering of the display of homonyms is based on the most tothe least probable replacement. For example, the homonyms "their","there" and "they're" would be displayed as (there/their/they're).Alternatively, in the selection mode, only the most probable homonym isdisplayed with an asterisk (*there) indicating the homonym status. Byselecting the word, the other homonyms can be selected as a replacement.In addition, to correct such common homonym transcription problems,another level of transcription is contemplated using so called"artificial intelligence" techniques for determining the correct wordgrammatically in the context of the given sentence.

Upon receiving a first key-stroke code of a sentence from stenographicrecorder 11, the CAT system 13 begins a transcription expedition byparsing through a first listing level of the cross-reference library inan attempt to find a matching KCL record. If a matching KCL record isfound which has an associated CT record transcription, the CAT system 13records the match and treats the second (next) code received as thebeginning of a new word by parsing the first listing level.

If a matching KCL record found for first code received has no associatedCT record, the CAT system 13 treats the second key-stroke code receivedas the second part of the word by branching to the second listing levelpointed to by the matching KCL record (on the first listing level). Notethat if properly constructed, there should never be any KCL record whichhas neither a pointer in field 161 to an associated CT record or apointer in field 163 to a subsequent level of KCL records. If a match isfound at the second listing level with an associated CT recordtranscription, the CAT system 13 treats the third key-stroke codereceived as the beginning of a new word by parsing the first listinglevel, and repeating the cycle.

If after transcribing a series of key-strokes in a sentence, the CATsystem 13 encounters a dead end, i.e., an associated CT record can notbe identified, back-tracking must occur. The CAT system 13 returns tothe last matching KCL record of the previously transcribed word, andcontinues the transcription process through subsequent listing levels tosee if what had been considered an entire word is really only a portionthereof. If a match is found with an associated CT record transcription,the CT record at that subsequent (deeper) listing level is stored, andthe following key-stroke code received is treated as the beginning of anew word, repeating the cycle.

With each successive, unsuccessful parsing round, the previouslydescribed transcription process becomes more and more complex withpotentially many parallel and nested transcription pathways beingconsidered. If available, the first completely transcribed sentencefound is communicated to attorney terminals 15 and 16. Otherwise, thesentence formulation with the greatest number of key-strokes transcribedwill be prepared for communication.

If a completely transcribed sentence is unavailable, a second phase oftranscription, the phoneme transcription phase, is invoked. In thisphase, as illustrated by the phoneme library representation in FIG. 4,each untranscribed key-stroke is cross referenced into a phoneme library17 to obtain readable phoneme text. By pronouncing the phoneme text, thelay-person (down-line viewer) will identify the actual word or wordswhich the cross-reference library did not contain.

Specifically, the phoneme library 17 is a double entry list containing alist 223 of key-stroke codes and a corresponding list 229 of phonemes.The listed key-stroke codes 223 provides storage for key-stroke codeswhich have been directly associated with phoneme text stored in thecorresponding phoneme list 229. The CAT system 13 parses through theseries of listed key-stroke codes held in the listed₋₋ keystroke₋₋ code223 to locate an untranscribed key-stroke code. If located, the CATsystem 13 extracts the associated phoneme text stored in a field of thecorresponding phoneme list 229. For example, if the CAT system 13receives a key-stroke code representing the key-stroke "P H AO EU" forwhich no counterpart exists in the cross-reference library 15, the CATsystem 13 parses the listed₋₋ key-stroke₋₋ code entries 223 and locatesa specific entry in a field 225. The corresponding readable phoneme textentry "my" in a field 227 of the corresponding₋₋ phoneme list 229 isthen extracted. Instead of transmitting the key-stroke "P H AO EU"down-line, the CAT system 13 substitutes the phoneme text "my" in thecurrent sentence so that down-line pronunciation is simplified.

In a second example, if the court reporter responds to the word"Columbia" by pressing the key-stroke "K H R U PL" followed by thekey-stroke "P W A E", the CAT system 13 first attempts to find exacttranscriptions for the two keystrokes using the cross-reference library.If exact transcription text cannot be found, the CAT system 13 parsesthe phoneme library 17 and finds the phoneme text "KLUMM" and "BEEYA"for the first and second key-strokes, respectively. Because the CATsystem 13 cannot be sure if the two key-strokes form a single word ortwo independent words, a tilde ("˜") is placed between the two phonemetext strings for substitution and down-line display. Although onlysingle phoneme text strings are shown, any of the corresponding phonemesin the list 229 may also contain multiple strings of phoneme textseparated by a tilde ("˜") where needed to provide betterpronounceability.

Additionally, upon the court reporter substituting exact text of theword or words spoken for phoneme text that was used during a proceeding(an interactive process carried out by the court reporter after thedeposition), the CAT system 13 automatically updates the cross-referencelibrary by adding the key-stroke or key-stroke sequences and associatedexact text.

If a key-stroke cannot be found by parsing the listed key-stroke codefields 223 of the phoneme library 220, the key-stroke undergoes analternate form of pronounceable text substitution using thepronunciation index 25 as illustrated in FIG. 5. In particular, usingthe key-stroke "P H AO EU" as an example, if the cross-reference andphoneme libraries 15 and 17 yield no positive results, the characters ofthe key-stroke are cross-referenced into the pronunciation index 25 toidentify pronunciation strings for each of the characters singly or ingroups. The pronunciation index 25 is modelled from pronunciation keysusing long or short vowel and consonant combinations found in anyordinary dictionary. The grouping of characters to be cross-referencedinto the index 25 is governed by standard stenographic key-strokecharacters and character combinations known to all court reporters. Forexample, every court reporter knows that a "PH" is equivalent to an "M";the pronunciation index 25 indicates this. Once pronunciation stringsare identified for all of the series of characters in the key-stroke,the strings are combined and substituted for the untranslated key-strokecode and communicated down-line for viewing.

More specifically, in the example illustrated, the CAT system 13 locatesthe "PH" sub-string in a character series field 253 and extracts theassociated pronunciation string "m" from a field 255. Similarly, the CATsystem 13 locates "AO" and "EU" in fields 257 and 259, and extracts theassociated pronunciation strings "i" and "e" in fields 261 and 263,respectively. Together, these character substitutions form the overallstring "mie" which is substituted for the untranscribed key-stroke codefor down-line viewing.

The overall pronounceable string generated by accessing thepronunciation index 25 can be used to generate a more complete phonemelibrary 17. For example, if the pronounceable string is "mie", after thedeposition the court reporter can choose a more easily pronounceablestring such as "my" and place it in the phoneme library 17. Thereafter,if the same key-stroke is ever encountered again, the updated phonemelibrary 17 will provide text without having to resort to thepronunciation index 25. The CAT system 13 interactively controls thisentire process, and also updates the cross-reference libraryaccordingly.

In another embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1and 6, instead of directly substituting the phoneme text for down-lineviewing, the CAT system 13 makes a second attempt at locating exact textusing a phoneme dictionary 23. Using the same linked list structure andsearching strategy as is detailed in relation to the cross-referencelibrary 15, the CAT system 13 attempts to locate exact text. The onlydifferences between the cross-reference library 15 and the phonemedictionary 23 can be found in the replacement of the KCL type record 151(FIG. 2) with a phoneme type record 301 (FIG. 6), and, instead ofworking with an entire sentence unit, the unit of transcription usingthe phoneme dictionary 23 would only be the particular sequence ofkey-strokes having no counterpart text in the cross-reference library15.

Because the overall data structure, association with CT records, andsearching strategy as illustrated by FIGS. 2 and 3 for thecross-reference library are identical to that found in the phonemedictionary 23, those details regarding the phoneme dictionary 23 neednot be revisited. To repeat the description of such structure andoperation for the phoneme dictionary 23, the reader is directed to theprevious discussions relating to FIGS. 2 and 3 above, keeping in mindthe substitution of the phoneme record 301 of the phoneme dictionary 23with the KCL record 151 of the cross-reference library 15.

Using the phoneme dictionary 23, the CAT system 13 can identify exacttext replacements even in circumstances where there are two or more waysto correctly "stroke" a word even though some ways are not registered inthe cross-reference library.

In many instances, a key-stroke code or code sequence which cannot belocated in the cross-reference library 15 proves to be a result of atyping-error. To help correct for such errors, the pronunciation stringproduced using the pronunciation index 25 for a word having no exacttext replacement in the cross-reference library 15 is compared by theCAT system 13 to all of the words stored in the cross-reference library15 to find those that offer the most probable match with possible typingerrors corrected. The CAT system 13 takes into account both extrakey-strokes and misplaced key-strokes while accounting for the layout ofthe keyboard 31 of the stenographic recorder 11. By visually presentingall of the probable matches to the court reporter, the CAT system 13provides for easy identification and selection of the mistyped word, andperforms automatic word substitution. This process usually takes placeinteractively after the deposition.

In the preferred configuration, the CAT system 13 does not directlycompare the words stored in the cross-reference library with thepronunciation strings produced using the pronunciation index 25.Instead, the CAT system 13 converts each stored word into apronunciation string using the pronunciation index 25 so that alike-kind comparison can be made. All such conversion of all of thestored words in the cross-reference library 15 takes place prior tobeginning the correction process.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 6, counters are placed in each KCL,phoneme and CT record for several purposes. To provide for optimizationof the overall structure involved, each time a specific record is usedin a final transcription, the associated counters are incremented. Atthe end of a deposition, the court reporter can run optimizing routineswhich sort the records in each linked list based on the count containedin the counters. In this way, for example, optimization could ensurethat the most common matching KCL records are encountered first,speeding up the parsing response time. Similarly, the most commonhomonyms and phoneme text will be used first. Additional benefitsattributable to the counters will become more apparent in thedescriptions that follow.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the down-line terminal 19 of the presentinvention which more clearly illustrates the use of phoneme textreplacement of untranscribed key-strokes. The down-line terminal 19includes a screen 351 and a keyboard 353. The screen 351 is split into atranscription window 355 and a communication window 357, having a commoncommand line 359. The window 355 displays the transcribed questions andanswers received from the CAT System 13. As in the illustrative example,the communication window 357 contains a series of communications whichrelate to the questions and answers (Q & A's) displayed. More detailregarding the functionality of the communication window 357 and theterminal 350 can be found in the pending parent U.S. application Ser.No. 08/036,488, filed Mar. 24, 1993, by Bennett et al. which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The transcription window 355 illustrates the display of a fifty-seventhquestion (Q57) and fifty-eighth question (Q58) which provide a visualindication of the operation of the phoneme library 17. Both of thesequestions provide an exemplary transcription of a situation where thecross-reference library 15 did not contain exact text for the name"Columbia". Q57 exemplifies the down-line display without the use of thephoneme library 17 wherein the actual key-strokes "KHRUPL" and "PWAE"are placed into the sentence. It should become apparent to those who arenot court reporters that these key-strokes cannot be easily understood.In contradistinction, Q58 provides the substitution "KLUMM" and "BEEYA"which when placed together provides most any reader with a readable andunderstandable pronunciation for the word "Columbia".

FIG. 8 is an exemplary diagram of a foreign language table which is usedto cross-reference text of a first language that corresponds totranslated words of a first language. Depositions involving participantsin two or more languages are also contemplated by the present invention.In a first embodiment, the transcription process operates as previouslydescribed by providing a word for word transcription of the spokenquestion in a first language. Each of these words are thencross-referenced into a second language table to generate a sentence ina second language. Although the use of the second language table can beassigned to each attorney terminal down-line, in a preferred mode, theCAT system 13 performs the task. Once translated, the CAT system 13transmits the second language sentence down-line to viewing participantswho understand that second language. By using additional languagetables, the CAT system 13 can provide translations for as many languagesas is needed.

If the CAT system 13 performs the translation task, the CAT system 13also manages the specific down-line routing of first and second languagesentences, automatically. To accommodate automatic routing, allparticipants are required to identify their viewing language and theirrole in the deposition upon logging in to the system 13. The CAT system13 stores the identified information in a log-in list. By referencingthe log-in list, the CAT system 13 automatically configures itself so asto provide each participant with a translation in their appropriatelanguage.

An exemplary second or foreign language table 27 is illustrated in FIG.8. Using the language table 27, the CAT system 13 parses the textentries of a first language in a series of identified₋₋ CT₋₋ Stringfields 403 to locate the transcribed text of a word in a first language.Once located, the text of a second language is extracted from acorresponding₋₋ translation field 405 and placed into a second languagesentence. Each transcribed word in the first language undergoes thisprocess so that a second language sentence can be fully constructed.Thereafter, both the first and second language sentences are transmitteddown-line to the appropriate participant. For example, the word "beach"located in a field 407 in a first language, English, would be directlysubstituted by the word "playa" of a second language, Spanish, containedin field 409. Although translations would not always be exact because ofword context, the use of a human translator could be minimized. Moreimportantly, the translation provides a check to see if the translatorhas summarized the translation.

As a supplement to the language table 401, word context analysis mightalso be implemented to increase the accuracy of the translations. Suchanalysis might run in parallel with the direct replacement offered bythe language table 401 so that a quick and probably less completetranslation would be initially displayed, while a slower and probablymore complete translation using the grammatical contextual analysiswould continue running in the background. Whenever the backgroundtranslation finishes, the current displayed translation could bedirectly updated to display the more complete translation. It iscontemplated that the background translation using the grammaticalcontext sensitivity might run on an off-site computer, and not withinthe CAT system 13 if so desired. In such a configuration, the CAT system13 would provide the quick translation without contextual analysis fordisplay for a fast response time.

If the down-line participants that speak during the deposition all sharea common language, the court reporter need only understand the commonlanguage and provide a cross-reference library and a phoneme library forthat language. Alternate language translations for non-speaking,down-line participants, are provided using as many different foreignlanguage tables as needed, as described above. Routing and languageinformation is retrieved from the log-in list.

If, however, the down-line participants that speak during the depositionshare two or more languages, in a preferred embodiment, a multi-lingualcourt reporter provides a cross-reference library and phoneme libraryfor each of the languages being spoken. Moreover, multilingual courtreporters may not be necessary so long as the court reporter has across-reference library for all languages being spoken. This is possiblebecause the court reporter is merely creating key-strokes for soundsthat they hear. Specifically, all court reporters might be able toselect standard foreign language cross-reference libraries from a commonremote database as described below in relation to FIG. 10.

Additionally, for each spoken language, language tables providingtranslation into each of the multiple languages are also necessary.During the translation process, when the multi-lingual court reporterindicates the beginning of a question or answer, or otherwise identifiesthe speaker, the CAT system 13 automatically selects the appropriatecross-reference and phoneme libraries to transcribe the spoken language,then accesses the appropriate foreign language tables to constructsentence translations. The resulting translations are automaticallyrouted down-line. The CAT system 13 performs the automatic selection oflibraries and tables and routing with reference to the entries in thelog-in list.

Although the use of multiple phoneme libraries is preferred in amultiple language deposition, they may be completely ignored. Otherwise,when attempting to translate phoneme text into a second language, thephoneme text should be replaced by equivalent phoneme text in the secondlanguage. Therefore, pronunciation of the spoken word would sound thesame in either language. Because with phoneme text the actualtranscription of a word is unknown, a second language translation cannotbe found. Therefore, as a substitute, a pronunciation for each of theparticipants in the phonemes of their language which sounds like thespoken word in the first language is provided. The pronunciation keyindex 25 could be similarly adapted.

Unlike the previous features relating to increased transcriptionpercentages and readability in real time, FIG. 9 illustrates features ofthe present invention for better preparing both the court reporter andthe CAT system 13 for depositions or trials. At some time prior to anupcoming deposition or trial, the court reporter using the CAT system 13updates the cross-reference library 15, and improves their strokingskills using the updated information.

Initially, the CAT system 13 compares the words in the cross-referencelibrary 15 with the words stored in both a case evidence database 455and a case law database 457. The CAT system 13 places the words which donot exist in the cross-reference library 15 into two new word listswhich correspond to new case evidence words and new case law words. TheCAT system 13 then presents these words to the court reporter forstroking practice and addition to the cross-reference library 15.

In particular, access to the case evidence database 455 would beprovided by an attorney involved in the upcoming deposition or trial.Such access could either occur remotely or locally, depending on thelocation and accessibility of the attorney's case evidence database 455.For security purposes, the attorney may choose to provide the courtreporter with access only to the list of words contained in the caseevidence database 455. A simple parsing routine could easily collectsuch a list.

Instead of generating an entire list of all of the words contained inthe case law database 457, the manager of the case law database 457might instead generate lists of legal terms grouped by category of lawand make them available to the CAT system 13. The court reporter thenasks the attorneys for the areas of law that are involved, andinteractively uses the CAT system 13 to select the appropriate lists oflegal words. In the alternative, the CAT system 13 might parse thecomplaint and answer stored in the case evidence database 457, and, bycomparing the names of the categories of law, could automatically selectthe appropriate word lists.

Once selected, the CAT system 13 automatically compares the case law andcase evidence word lists to the words stored in the cross-referencelibrary 15. The CAT system 13 discards the words from the lists whichcan be found in the cross-reference library, and provides an interactivetraining and updating session for the court reporter to add theremaining words to the cross-reference library 15. In particular, theCAT system 13 provides an interactive display consisting of a controlline 459, an interaction window 461 for managing the list of new words,and a key-stroke practice window 463. The CAT system sequentiallydisplays each remaining word from the new word lists in an interactivefashion in the window 461, prompting the court reporter to providekey-strokes via the stenographic recorder 11. The CAT system 13 displayseach key-stroke entered in the window 463. The court reporter canpractice stroking the word, and add the preferred key-strokes and thenew word automatically to the cross-reference library 15. Uponcompleting the new lists, the CAT system 13 has prepared the courtreporter and the cross-reference library 15 for the upcoming depositionor trial.

Referring to FIG. 10, an alternate embodiment of the training andupdating features of the present invention provides training andupdating functionality. During a deposition or trial, the CAT system 13utilizes a locally stored cross-reference library 554 as described indetail with regards to FIG. 1 above. Prior to the deposition or trialhowever, the court reporter using the CAT system 13 logs-in to a remotedatabase 551 to undergo training and to update the cross-referencelibrary 554. A list of new words from the case evidence database 555 andcase law database 557 are generated in a similar manner as described inrelation to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, by comparison to thecontents of the local cross-reference library 554. The generated listsare then compared to the contents of common cross-reference library 553and those of the new words that can be located in the commoncross-reference library 553 are marked.

As described previously in reference to FIG. 9, the CAT system 13sequentially displays the new words an interaction window 561.Similarly, the court reporter may practice key-stroking in a key-strokepractice window 563, and control the CAT system 13 via a command line559. Additionally, however, a new window, a suggested key-stroke window565 has been added to display the key-strokes stored in the commoncross-reference library 553 for any new word which is contained in thecommon library 553 but not in the local library 554. The window 561prompts the court reporter to adopt the key-strokes found in the commonlibrary 553. The court reporter may practice the suggested key-stroke inthe window 563 and either adopt the suggest key-strokes or choose theirown, and the local cross-reference library 554 is updated. If the courtreporter chooses their own key-strokes, ignoring these suggested, thecommon cross-reference library 553 is also updated to add an alternatekey-stroke pathway to the new word. Therefore, it can be appreciatedthat multiple key-strokes or sequences of key-strokes may define a pathto the same word in the common-reference library 553. If multiplekey-stroke pathways exist prior to the court reporters updating andtraining session for a new word found in the local cross-referencelibrary 554, the CAT system 13 will present all of the key-strokepossibilities in the window 565 so that the court reporter mightpractice all before choosing one of the possibilities. In thealternative, the court reporter might add all of the key-strokespossibilities for a new word to the local library if training time isavailable.

If the new words do not exist in either the common or localcross-reference libraries 553 and 554, the court reporter is free tocreate, practice, and adopt any key-strokes that they may come up with.Adoption of such key-strokes automatically updates the common and locallibraries 553 and 554.

Other court reporters using the CAT system 13 of the present inventionwould similarly log-in to the remote database 551 to both update theirown local cross-reference libraries 554 and train. In this way, thecross-reference library 553 could be updated and maintained.

Also to maintain the common cross-reference library 553, each time acourt reporter logs-in, the local cross-reference library 554 iscompared to the common cross-reference library 553. Based on thiscomparison, the common cross-reference library 553 is updated to includenew words and associated new key-stroke(s) or new key-stroke(s) used forold words from the local cross-reference library 554.

The counters illustrated in KCL and TC records of the local and commoncross-reference libraries are also updated upon each log-in session.Referring back to FIG. 2, the current listing counters of the localcross-reference library 554 (FIG. 10) 157 and 167 are added to thecommon listing counters 158 and 168 in the counterpart records of thecommon cross-reference library 553 (FIG. 10). The local current listingcounters 157 and 167 are then reset. In this way, the commoncross-reference library 553 can track both the word usage and the mostoften used key-strokes representing a given word. During trainingsessions, the most common key-stroke(s) to a given word can be suggestedfirst, followed by less popular keystroke(s). Such suggestions urge thecourt reporters toward a common stroking standard.

In addition, a court reporter using the CAT system 13 may request astandardization session in which the common and local libraries 553 and554 are compared so that the court reporter can do the commonkey-strokes to words as indicated by the counters in the common library553. This process is carried out interactively with training using thewindows 561, 563 and 565 as previously described.

Additionally, new court reporters might adopt the entire commoncross-reference library 553 or a commonly used portion thereof as theirlocal cross-reference library 554. Similarly, seasoned court reportersafter the log-in process would include their own local cross-referencelibrary 554 or portion thereof as their local cross-reference library553. Afterwards, the CAT system 13 provides interactive training for thenew words which are identified by looking for a zero count in any of thereporter listing counters 151 and 153. In other words, if a courtreporter has stroked a word at least once before, the KCL and TC recordsused would all have at least a count of one in the reporter listingcounters having identified the new words in the newly adopted localcross-reference library 554, the CAT system 13 provides for trainingbased on the new words constructed from the common listing counters 158and 168, wherein the most common words are presented first. Overmultiple training sessions, the court reporter can implement a fulllocal cross-reference library 554 with associated training to provide ahigher percentage of automatic transcription.

During depositions or trials, some exact transcription will not bepossible due to stroking errors or new word encounters. The CAT system13 also provides the three window display described above to correct thetranscript. More important than correcting the current transcript, thecourt reporter must train and update the local cross-reference library554 (if necessary) to prevent reoccurrences. Specifically, the window561 is used to display the current transcript which includes eachuntranscribed word. The window 565 displays the key-stroke or key strokesequence used for the untranscribed word. The court reporter identifiesthe correct word viewing these two displays and corrects the transcriptusing the CAT system 13. Upon correcting the transcript, the correctedtext entered is immediately searched against the common and/or localcross-reference 553 and 554. If the word turns out to be new, the courtreporter is given an opportunity to practice the key-stroking and adopta key-stroke or set of key-strokes which they feel best represents thenew word. This training and selection occurs in the window 565 using thestenographic recorder 11. Upon selection of the key-strokes, the commonand local databases are updated with the new word. If instead the wordwhich fails to be automatically transmitted turns out to be an old wordwhich was mis-stroked, the window 565 merely provides the court reporterwith an opportunity to practice the correct key-stroking which isautomatically displayed in the window 563.

Although not shown, the remote database 551 may also store a commonphoneme library, common phoneme dictionary, common foreign languagetables and common pronunciation index. Each of these database localcounterparts could be updated and maintained in a similar manner as withthe common and local cross-reference libraries 553 and 554.

Furthermore, it is contemplated the use of the phoneme library 17 andphoneme dictionary 23 might not be used so that the pronunciation index25 would be the only pronounceable text substitution used by the CATsystem 13. Similarly, the pronunciation index 25 might not be used.

Although a stenographic recorder 11 is illustrated for use with thepresent invention, other recording techniques are also contemplated. Forexample, voice transcription might be implemented. Similarly, apen-based note-pad computer having Optical Character Recognition (OCR)software which recognized shorthand might also be used. In either ofthese examples, a counterpart cross-reference library would exist aswell as the phoneme library for phoneme text replacement, etc.

Additionally, the data structures and flow described above is merely oneembodiment of the many possible ways of carrying out the specificobjects of the present invention. Moreover, it is evident that theembodiments of the present invention described hereinabove are merelyillustrative and that other modifications and adaptations may be madewithout departing from the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A reporting system for providing in real-time to a viewingterminal text representative of spoken words that is readable by a layperson, said reporting system operates on coded representations ofspoken words in a first phoneme format generated in real time, saidreporting system comprising:a cross-reference library storingassociations between coded representations of spoken words in the firstphoneme format and corresponding exact alphabetic and numeric text; aphoneme library for storing associations between coded representationsof spoken words in the first phoneme format and pronounceable but notexact representations of spoken words in a second phoneme format; atranscriber retrieving from said cross-reference library exactalphabetic and numeric text for coded representations of spoken words inthe first phoneme format that have associations stored in saidcross-reference library; said transcriber retrieving from said phonemelibrary coded representations of spoken words in the second phonemeformat that are pronounceable by a lay person using codedrepresentations of spoken words in the first phoneme format for whichsaid cross-reference library stores no associations; and communicationmeans for delivering both the exact alphabetic and numeric text and thecoded representations of spoken words in the second phoneme format tothe viewing terminal for display.
 2. The reporting system of claim 1further comprising pronunciation index means operable on codedrepresentations of spoken words for which said phoneme means and saidcross-reference means both fail to identify associations.
 3. Thereporting system of claim 1 further comprising phoneme library meansresponsive to said phoneme means for identifying associations betweencode representations of spoken words and corresponding alphabetical andnumeric text.
 4. The reporting system of claim 1 wherein saidtranscriber operates on associations identified to provide foreignlanguage translation.
 5. The reporting system of claim 1 furthercomprising:a foreign language table; and said transcriber operates onassociations identified to provide translations of the identifiedassociations by referencing said foreign language table.
 6. A reportingsystem for providing to a viewing terminal text representative of spokenwords that is readable by a lay person comprising:input means forattempting, in real-time, to generate coded representations of words assuch words are spoken; cross-reference means responsive to said inputmeans for attempting to identify exact alphabetic and numeric text ofthe words spoken from the coded representations generated by said inputmeans; substitution means, utilized whenever said cross-reference meansfails to identify exact alphabetic and numeric text, for identifyingpronounceable substitute text from the coded representations generatedby said input means that, when pronounced by a lay person sounds likethe spoken words; and communication means for delivering the exact textfrom said cross-reference means and the substitute text from saidsubstitution means to the viewing terminal for display.
 7. The reportingsystem of claim 6 wherein said substitution means utilizes a phonemelibrary for identifying the substitute text.
 8. The reporting system ofclaim 6 wherein said substitution means utilizes a pronunciation indexfor identifying the substitute text.
 9. The reporting system of claim 6for use with spoken words of a plurality of languages wherein said inputmeans provides a real-time indication of the one of the plurality oflanguages of the spoken words, and said cross-reference means beingresponsive to the indication by basing the identification of the exactalphabetic and numeric text of the words on the language indicated. 10.The reporting system of claim 9 wherein said substitution means alsobeing responsive to the indication by basing the identification ofsubstitute text on the language indicated.
 11. The reporting system ofclaim 6 for use with a plurality of speakers using a correspondingplurality of languages wherein said input means provides a real-timeindication of the identity of the one of the plurality of speakersspeaking, and said cross-reference means being responsive to theindication by basing the identification of the exact alphabetic andnumeric text of the words on the language of the indicated speaker. 12.A real-time reporting system for providing to a plurality of viewers,each of which having a preferential one of a plurality of languages forreading, text representative of words spoken comprising:input means forattempting, in real-time, to generate coded representations of words assuch words are spoken; cross-reference means responsive to said inputmeans for attempting to identify exact alphabetic and numeric text ineach of the preferential ones of the plurality of languages from thecoded representations generated by said input means; substitution means,utilized whenever said cross-reference means fails to identify exactalphabetic and numeric text, for identifying pronounceable substitutetext from the coded representations generated by said input means that,when pronounced, sounds like the spoken words; and communication meansfor automatically delivering to each of the plurality of viewers, ineach viewers preferential one of the plurality of languages, the exacttext from said cross-reference means and the substitute text from saidsubstitution means for display.
 13. The reporting system of claim 12wherein said substitution means utilizes a phoneme library foridentifying the substitute text.
 14. The reporting system of claim 12wherein said substitution means utilizes a pronunciation index foridentifying the substitute text.
 15. The reporting system of claim 12for use with spoken words in the plurality of languages wherein saidinput means provides a real-time indication of the one of the pluralityof languages of the spoken words, and said cross-reference means beingresponsive to the indication by basing the identification of the exactalphabetic and numeric text of the words on the language indicated. 16.The reporting system of claim 15 wherein said substitution means alsobeing responsive to the indication by basing the identification ofsubstitute text on the language indicated.